Trust-Based Relational Intervention

The DNA at The Sanctuary is Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). It is our foundation from pre-licensing training to post-placement support, including our own staff of licensed counselors so that families have a one-stop agency that can meet the therapy needs of the child, foster parents and families.

“Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is effective for children in foster care because it recognizes that healing can only occur in the context of loving relationships. It provides parents with tools to understand the harmful effects of early relational trauma and to support children in developing a new set of skills for managing their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The Sanctuary’s use of TBRI principles and practices therefore supports foster parents in meeting the everyday challenges they face in the home. But the support doesn't stop there. The Sanctuary's holistic approach to care means that foster families are also supported through in-office counseling for the whole family, in-home support, and 24 hour crisis intervention. Embracing TBRI principles to every situation, The Sanctuary truly offers wraparound support to the foster families in their care.”

Dr. Candice A. Alfano, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Houston

ABOUT TBRI

TBRI, Trust-Based Relational Intervention, is a set of principles and strategies that provide parents and caregivers the tools for the true healing of children. TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. It uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.

“There is nothing easy about trauma-informed care; there is no magic formula or silver bullet.  It requires talented and dedicated professionals, fully immersed in the best trauma-informed practices, and insanely committed to the wellbeing of the parents and children they serve.  If you find such a place, you will have found something both rare and precious.  I think The Sanctuary Foster Care Services is one of those rare and precious places.”

Dr. David Cross, Ph.D.
Reese Jones Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development and a Professor in the TCU Department of Psychology (Retired)
Co-Creator with Dr. Karyn Purvis of Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), a holistic, attachment based, trauma-informed, and evidence-based intervention for children who have experienced relational trauma.